Jaguars Sign Naeole–Will It Help?

Chris Naeole sauntered back in to the Jaguars locker room Wednesday with a hint of a grin on his face. He knew what was coming next.

Naeole earned the reputation for being surly with the media in his first stint as a Jaguar. But this was different.

Naeole acted as if it were his high school reunion. He deadpanned about the severity of his quadriceps injury last November (“I tore it off the knee. That’s kind of crucial.”).

He showed off the 8 inch long scar on his knee, where famed orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews cut in to re-attach the muscle.

He even talked about the positive side of the injury. Naeole was able to go back to his home state of Hawaii to spend time with his ailing father, who died of cancer in March.

Now, Naeole is back. And just in time. The Jaguars had been following his progress, but it wasn’t until last Friday when he was cleared by doctors to return to football that Jacksonville approached him.

And Naeole jumped at the chance. He’ll have a chance to move into the lineup sooner than anybody else, since he already knows the offense.

“It’s like an old shirt or an old pair of shorts,” said Naeole.

Now the two questions that are unanswered: when will Naeole be able to move into the lineup and will it help?

If Naeole has some stamina (he looked to be in pretty good shape when we spoke with him on Wednesday), he should be an upgrade from anyone else the Jaguars have available. If I had to make a prediction on when Naeole could get into the lineup, I would say at the earliest it would be the Steelers’ game on October 5. But I think there is a chance that they might wait until after the October 19 bye week before they put him in.